Cloning and characterization of a novel human pantothenate kinase gene

Pantothenate kinase (PanK) is a key regulatory enzyme in the CoA biosynthetic pathway in bacteria and mammalian cells. It catalyzes the first committed step in the universal biosynthetic pathway leading to CoA. Here we report the molecular cloning and characterization of a new human PanK gene. The gene encoded a protein of 314 amino acid residues, which share high homology to mouse pantothenate kinase (mPanK) 1 beta. Northern blot analysis revealed a transcript of the gene of 2.6 kb in human liver and kidney. The human PanK gene was located to human chromosome between 10q22.3 and 10q23.2 by bioinformatics analysis.